


just an earth-bound misfit, i

by JakeyFryMason011



Series: Branches [4]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, I'm a sucker for it, I'm not sorry, more mileven tired tropes, sue me, the nerd and the punk
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-06
Updated: 2018-12-27
Packaged: 2019-08-19 10:55:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,430
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16533215
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JakeyFryMason011/pseuds/JakeyFryMason011
Summary: AU. Jane Hopper, if you were to describe her, might be described as: dark, best avoided, a troublemaker, terrifying. Mike Wheeler, on the opposite spectrum, would be described as: nerdy, weird, shy, awkward, a geek. Neither kid is supposed to get along well.They end up "getting along" a lot more than they intended to.A tired concept, but one I'm going to abuse.





	1. How It Begins

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which we learn a little about each character, and how El does NOT like Mike.

There was rain on that Tuesday, forcing the sun higher above to make way for the dreary cotton-balls that sprayed freezing sheets down the shirts of the inhabitants of Hawkins.

It threw itself against the windows, howling in time to the wind, and despite himself, Mike shivered. Rain freaked him the fuck out.

Turning back to his test, he smiled faintly in quiet victory as he circled the next question. So far, the pop quiz had been a breeze! It was lucky he'd decided to do some extra studying a few nights ago.

"Time's up!" the teacher called from the front of the room, accompanied by lots of groaning and sighs. One boy attempted to scribble in a few more answers as he walked to the desk.

"I never made it past the second question," someone muttered behind Mike as he followed the rest out of the class.

The rain continued to pound its fists against the window with wrath as the faceless students trailed their way down the hall to the cafeteria.

"Shit!" someone yelled, and Mike smirked to himself as he pushed his way through the mass. He knew that voice.

"Shit, shit, I spilled it down my sleeve," Dustin was saying as Mike strode up. Will shook his head with a sigh. "And all over your textbook," he noted with mild amusement. Lucas rolled his eyes, looking supremely unconcerned. "This is why, Dustin, you use juice boxes."

"Juice boxes? We aren't in fourth grade anymore, Lucas."

"Correction: I'm not in fourth grade. I don't know about you."

Dustin flipped him off as Mike surveyed the damage. "How much chocolate milk did you even get?"

"Three cartons."

"Three cartons?!"

"They were out of pudding!"

Mike sighed. "I'll go and get you paper towels."

"Thanks. Could you hurry? It's soaking into my jeans."

With Lucas' protest of "Gross!" behind him, Mike set his lunch down and weaved his way through the students, pulling a handful of napkins out of a dispenser.

Then, he turned around and walked right into someone.

"Oh, I'm--" he started.

Then the klaxons went off in his head.

Jane Hopper raised an eyebrow at him. "You're what?"

"Sorry," Mike squeaked.

Jane Hopper had a bit of a reputation around the school. Actually, a "bit" was an understatement: literally everyone knew who she was. Her hair was dark and greased back, her eyeshadow was a large topic in PTA meetings. She wore mostly black on black on black.

She was someone to avoid at all costs. And for everyone, not just Mike Wheeler, hopeless nerd extraordinaire.

Back in the present, she rolled her eyes somewhat and pushed past him towards the food line.

Mike sat down at a chair (one not covered in chocolate milk) looking as though he'd been slapped.

"Thanks," Dustin said, snatching a few napkins and patting himself dry. Will set to work wiping up the rest of the spill.

"What's the matter with you?" Lucas squinted, pointing at Mike.

"I accidentally bumped into Jane Hopper," Mike said.

Dustin dropped another carton of milk, spilling more on the floor, but nobody paid attention.

"Holy shit," Dustin said, incredulously. "How are you... _alive?"_

"No idea," Mike said.

Will sighed, dipping down to mop up the milk on the floor. "She doesn't seem too bad," he said from under the table. "Ow! Dustin, you just kicked my nose!"

"Not that bad? _Not that bad?_ Don't you remember that fight with the Stacey?"

The scene: last year. The place: The bleachers by the football field.

Stacey and her friends had decided it would be fun to harass Jane and her friend Maxine Mayfield (some have speculated that Stacey was drunk at the time). Jane naturally did not take this well, so she did want anyone probably wouldn't: she punched Stacey square in the mouth, effectively loosening a tooth. This soon evolved into a full-on brawl, from which Jane only sustained a nosebleed. Stacey, however, was essentially thrown off the high end of the bleachers. She wasn't seriously hurt, minus an ankle sprain, but her reputation was ruined. As much as some didn't like or were scared of Jane, Stacey was a very, very close second, perhaps by mere millimeters.

Will popped up, his nose bleeding in a way reminiscent of the fight, and shrugged. "Stacey's sort of...you know..." They knew, but none knew better than Will. Will had been subject to her torments for a very long time. Stacey and her friends Meghan and Jennifer tormented him endlessly.

Lucas simply gaped at him. "Okay, so Stacey's a bitch. But what about the time she and Mayfield _set fire to a mailbox?"_

"No one can prove she did that."

"Uh, considering the fact she was seen in the area with a box of matches--"

"Guys!" Mike said loudly, and they stopped. "That's not really helpful."

"Sorry," Dustin said, mopping up his textbook. "Still, count yourself lucky."

Mike grimaced and looked at his sandwich.

* * *

 

"Holy shit, El, " Max said as she sat down (El being a childhood nickname). "Did you see his face? He looked like he was going to piss himself."

El grunted into her pizza slice. "Yeah."

"Why didn't you hit him?" she continued.

"I dunno. I just didn't," El said.

"Suuuurrrreeee," Max drawled. El turned and glared. " _Max_ ," she hissed.

"What?" Max asked innocently. El tried to fight down a rising blush. "I do _not_ like him."

Max smirked, and the other girl turned back to her food. "Whatever, I don't."

The redhead rolled her eyes, but didn't press. "Okay, whatever..."

They ate in silence for a while.

"You thinking of going to that football game later?" Max asked a little later.

"Sure," El shrugged. "Might be a good time to smoke without my dad glaring at me."

"Cool."

"Cool."

A silence.

"I do _not_ like Mike."

Max burst out laughing. "You always know what I'm thinking."

"It's not that hard, Max."

* * *

" _Why_  are we going again?" Lucas asked as they pedaled down the hill. 

"I just feel like we need to get more...involved and stuff," Mike said for the eightieth time. "Plus, Will wanted to draw something other than stuff in his house."

"My house is nice and all, but we don't have nearly enough things to draw," Will added, pedaling up beside them.

"I still don't see why we couldn't just go the mall or something where you can draw," Dustin grumbled.

"It's kind of a lose-lose situation anyway. Either way we'd meet wasteoids."

"But _cheerleaders._ Is this really a good idea?"

They pulled up the the football field, Dustin seeming to have an unusually hard time extracting himself off of his bike.

"Relax," Mike told him. "If it all goes to shit, we can just sneak out the back way."

"Right," Dustin said, not sounding super convinced. "Awesome."

They found seats and sat down, Will pulling out a sketchbook and scribbling absent-minded on a page.

"Well, if it isn't the fairy!" someone called.

"That was quick," Dustin muttered to himself.

The usual cheerleaders were approaching the party, hostility radiating from every pore.

"What are you losers doing here?" Stacey asked.

"He probably wanted a way to see the football players outside of school," Meghan sneered.

Will's hand tightened on his pencil. "Cut it out, you guys," he muttered. Lucas stepped forward, his mouth opening, but Will shot him a look.

"What's the matter?" Jennifer said. "Don't want your boyfriend to fight all your own fights?"

"Nah, little Byers wants to finally grow a pair," Stacey said, pushing him.

"Leave me alone," Will said quietly.

"What? Sorry, couldn't hear you,"Jennifer mocked.

"I said leave me alone!" Will snapped. The three clones jerked back in shock, and the other party members gaped. That was the first time they'd ever heard Will raise his voice.

Will, breathing deeply, put his pencil and sketchpad on the bleachers and walked away.

The girls awkwardly moved on.

Mike went to go find Will. He found him standing outside by the doors, his arms crossed.

"Hey," Mike said.

"Hi," Will said quietly.

A silence, pressing against them like a heavy blanket.

"That was, uh, pretty brave," Mike said.

"Thanks," Will said. His voice seemed almost forcibly calm.

"Hey, are you, uh, all right."

"No," Will said, and his voice bent over and broke, splintering.

"Hey, hey," Mike said, and he gave the other boy a pat on the arm. "What's the problem?"

"Jennifer," Will said.

"What about her? She's been a bitch for a long time, you know that."

"It's just, I--you know, sort of--it's stupid--"

Oh. _Oh._

Mike grimaced. "Really, Will? Jennifer Hayes?"

Will sniffled. "I know it's dumb."

 _No shit,_ Mike said, but he said out loud "How come?"

"I don't know," Will said. "I just--she used to be really nice to me, and I've always thought she was kind of pretty, and now it's just...it sucks."

"I bet," Mike said, kicking himself to find something better to say. "Sorry."

"It's fine," Will said. "Eventually I'll get over it."

He wouldn't any time soon, it was evident.

"Do you want to go home?" Mike asked him.

Will nodded, and Mike told him to stay there and went to get the rest.

There was a new person sitting there when he got back, a brown-haired girl with purple highlights who Dustin seemed to be getting along well with.

"Guys," Mike said, and they looked up. "Will wants to head back."

"Smart kid," Lucas muttered, getting up. Dustin looked oddly disappointed, and so did the girl next to him, but she stood up with him, giving him a piece of paper. "Call me later, okay Henderson?"

"Cool," Dustin said, grinning like an idiot. "Cool," she said back, smiling at him. "See you around."

"Who was that?" Mike asked him on the way out.

"Nobody," Dustin said. "Just Emma from my history class."

"Hey, guys," Will said when they got outside. His eyes had dried by now. "Thanks."

"No problem," Lucas said, clapping him on the shoulder.

"None of us really wanted to be here anyway," Mike said.

"Except _Dustin,"_ Lucas said. Said boy proceeded to push Lucas.

"Hey, what do you guys say we go to the arcade?"

They walked around the building, back to their bikes.

"Hey," someone said, and the party jumped.

A girl stepped out into the streetlight. Her hair was red, skin was pale, and her clothes fit the color of the silhouette of the building at night.

"Sorry?" Mike asked apprehensively. Max was a known associate of Jane, thus not someone he normally would get involved with.

"Oh, sorry. I only saw one of you--" here she pointed at Will "--and in the dark you looked sort of like Jane."

"Oh," Lucas said. Mike looked at him closely; suddenly he seemed almost bashful. "Um, sorry I'm not who you were expecting."

"Whatever. Don't apologize."

"She isn't around here somewhere, is she?" Mike asked nervously.

"Yeah, she's behind you," Max said. Mike jumped and turned around as El melted out of the shadows.

"You again," was all she said.

"Y-yeah, me again," Mike stammered. Were they about to get beaten up?

Jane simply joined Max by the wall, lighting a cigarette.

"So why aren't you guys in there?" Lucas asked.

"I could ask you that," Max fired back, raising an eyebrow.

"Fair enough. Uh, you first."

Max smirked. "They won't let us smoke in there, so we have to smoke in this weedy, disgusting place. How about you guys?"

"Cheerleaders," Will muttered, looking at his shoes.

Jane and Max grimaced at the same time. "They're mouthbreathers," Jane said.

Will only made a small noise of assent.

"What did they say to you?" Jane asked him.

"What?"

"What did they say to you?"

"Just...usual stuff. They said I was a faggot and...stuff like that."

"We could beat them up for you," Max offered.

"Why?" Will asked her. Max scoffed. "We're not total assholes, you know."

"They just suck," Jane added.

Will shrugged. "You don't have to. It's fine."

"Whatever," Max said with a shrug. "Your funeral."

"I like your shirt," Jane said, this time to Mike.

He blinked, startled. "My what?"

"Your shirt. I like it."

It was a shirt for the Clash, a band that Will had gotten him into in middle school. "Oh. Um, thank you."

"They make good music," Jane said.

"Yeah," Mike nodded awkwardly. (How the hell was he supposed to do this?)

"Guys," Dustin said. "We probably should go if we want to make it to the arcade."

"Right," Mike said, inwardly thanking the other boy. "C'mon, guys."

"See you around, nerds," Max said. Jane inhaled a puff of smoke.

"Right. Sure," Lucas said.

Will waved at them awkwardly.

"Holy shit," Lucas said once they were out of earshot. "Did we seriously have a conversation with Max Mayfield and Jane Hopper?"

"Careful, your crush is showing," Dustin said.

"Shut the fuck up," Lucas said back.

Mike said nothing. He needed to process what had happened that night.

* * *

Once the boys were out of sight, Max smirked at El.

"What?" she said.

"' _I like your shirt,'"_ Max mimicked.

"Shut up!" El said, pushing her.

Max just laughed. "Just admit it, Ellie, you like the guy."

"I do _not_ like him!"

"Whatever you say, kiddo. Whatever you say."

"Remind me why I'm friends with you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yep, that's all. Sorry. Let me know if you want me to continue this or not. We'll see how it goes. I dunno.  
> Anyway, love you all! If I continue this, next time we'll put Mike in a very uncomfortable place lol


	2. How It Matches Up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Max finds Will talking with Lucas. Meanwhile, Mike and El get paired up in class, as cliches maintain.

Who needed class anyway?

A flash of red hair past a classroom door was the only indication of an escapee as Max jogged down the hall, hair flowering behind. El was trapped in a biology class (poor thing) but Max had been able to escape under the pretense of a bathroom break. 

Outside, the wind nipped angrily at her face, and she zipped up her jacket as she crept her way towards the basketball court, lighting a cigarette.

There was someone already there.

Squinting in the harsh light, Max made her way to the two figures. One was sitting on the ground, and the other stood next to him. The one sitting was clearly talking.

Up close, she could see it was Lucas (looking hot as ever, not like she'd ever admit that) and Will, who had hunched himself in the middle of the court. Lucas' face looked brooding, stormy; Will's was hidden.

"What are you nerds doing?" she called out to them, and the two jumped and looked over at her. The dark expression on Lucas' face melted like candle wax, replaced by one of nervousness, and inwardly she smirked. "Uh, nothing," Lucas said quickly as Will stood up. Will's head was dipped forward, and he was looking resolutely at his shoes.

Max rolled her eyes at them, but moved towards them. The two boys stood stock-still, as though they didn't know if they could leave or not.

The girl took a drag, and then proceeded to have a coughing fit. Lucas eyed her. "You really shouldn't smoke, you know," he said. Max eyed him. "What'd you say?"

"Nothing."

"That's what I thought. I'm just not used to this brand is all." Then she saw Will. "Holy shit, are you crying? Dude, it's just a cigarette."

"It's nothing," Will said, swiping at his eyes. "It's not the cigarette."

"Who is it, then?" Max wanted to know.

"Someone. No one."

"Someone or no one?" She was getting irritated now. She had asked him a _question_ , god damn it. He was supposed to _answer_ her.

"He doesn't want to talk about it right now," Lucas said. Max raised an eyebrow at him and he colored, but he didn't budge.

"Fine," Max huffed. "Be that way."

They stood there awkwardly, Max smoking and Lucas and Will not sure they wanted to go inside (better to face Maxine Mayfield then hordes of assholes)

"Was it the cheerleaders?" she said. Will looked up. "What?"

"The cheerleaders. Was it the cheerleaders?"

Will shrugged and mumbled something, which was all the answer she needed. Tossing the cigarette to the floor, she crushed it under her boot viciously.

"How about you?" she demanded, pointing at Lucas. "Do they pick on you?"

Lucas blinked. "Well, sometimes, but, I mean, it's kind of normal."

"Shit," Max muttered. "My fists are gonna be killing me." She started off towards the school as a bell rang.

Lucas and Will jogged to catch up with her. "Hold on, hold on," Lucas said. "You're not seriously going to fight them, are you?"

"No," Max said. "I'm gonna beat the shit out of them. You've seen them, they can't hit anything."

"You can't do that!" Lucas protested, Will nodding. "You'll get in so much trouble!"

"Watch me," Max said. Her blood was boiling by this point.

"It doesn't matter," Will told her. "It happens every day. Today wasn't any different."

"You were crying out here!" Max said, rounding on him.

Will colored and looked down at his shoes. She gaped at him. "Don't tell me you do that every day!"

"Not every day," Will mumbled. "Just some days."

She shook off Lucas' hand on her arm. "I'll kill them."

"Why are you going to bother?" Lucas asked her, trying to keep up.

"I'm trying to be nice to you here!" Max shouted, spinning around. "Okay? Can you just accept that?"

Lucas blinked. "Why?"

Max kicked at a rock. "I don't know, okay?" (she knew exactly why) "I just...you guys seem really nice, and almost nobody in this fucking school is nice. I just wanted to help."

"Beating someone up isn't going to help," Will said quietly. Max turned to look at him, and she realized just how small he was.

"Fine," she huffed. "Whatever." Truth be told, she had been looking forward to bloodying up Stacey's face a little bit.

Will looked at the sky. "We probably have to be back in class," he said.

Max shrugged. "You could go back to class...or we could go to the roof and dare each other to jump off."

Lucas blanched. "Um, that sounds...fun...but we might end up with a pop quiz." The girl shrugged. "Your funeral. See you around, nerds," and with a punch on Lucas' shoulder she ran off.

Will and Lucas didn't talk on the way back to their classroom.

* * *

Rewind this ten-minute ordeal. Now, at this moment, Max is jogging through the halls with a pack of cigarettes in her shirt and a lighter in her pocket. Lucas and Will stand alone in a basketball court, a conversation with Max nonexistent as of now. Move through the school, until we arrive at room 353.

The teacher stood at the blackboard, listing off the steps to dissecting a frog, something that made El feel a little nauseous and more than a little bored. None of this was particularly interesting to her, but apparently it was interesting to Mike, because he sat watching the board with shining eyes. Evidently, science was his thing.

She forced herself not to look. _You do not like Mike,_ she told herself.

 _But he's so cute,_ her brain said.

_No he isn't. He looks like the frog we have to dissect._

_Yeah. But a cute frog._

_Shut up_ , she told herself.

Her brain was silent.

Then, he was sitting in front of her, saying something timidly, and her brain immediately started to freak out again.

She blinked. "What?"

Mike blushed mid-sentence. "I, um, was saying that Mrs Phillips made us partners."

_Shit._

Something of this must have shown on her face, because Mike squinted at her. "It's only for this one class. After that we won't have to, like, talk to each other ever again or anything."

"Cool," was all she said, and Mike grimaced at her before pinning the frog's corpse to the table. El was pretty sure that if she were a frog, she wouldn't want her corpse to be pinned out, belly up, on a table for students to pick at.

She noticed him strapping on goggles and did the same, unsure of what exactly she was supposed to do.

With careful fingers, Mike gently sliced open the frog's stomach, and with a horrible squelching sound he moved a few organs around.

El was rather ashamed to admit it, but she hated the noise. She decided to tune herself out for the remainder of the dissection.

She found herself centering on Mike. He looked far too excited to be dissecting a frog, which sort of grossed her out but it was oddly fascinating. His facial expression was intense, and she caught herself noticing every detail: how he bit his lip when he was concentrating, how his freckles seemed to be dusted evenly across his face, how his hair flopped whenever he moved his hair.

He looked cute.

Then she wanted to hit herself, and pulled out of her reverie.

Mike was filling out a worksheet, his pencil scratching rapidly across the page. She blinked. How long had she zoned out?

"Does this look good?" he asked her, pushing a few slightly wrinkled pages towards her.

El shrugged, glancing at it. "I guess."

Mike nodded mutely and started to clean up.

"Mike," El said. "I can do it."

He blinked at her. "Oh! Um, okay. Are you sure?"

She only gave him a glare (under the eyeshadow, she could be very intimidating, something she relished) and he colored. "Okay. I'll just, um, go turn these in."

He walked away, and inwardly she smirked to herself at the effect she had on him. He was a nervous wreck, evidenced by him tripping on the way there and almost faceplanting.

She wrapped the frog in a paper towel so she wouldn't have to see it and placed it in the box for the teacher to examine, along with the tools. Mike came back. "Thanks," he said. El only shrugged.

The bell rang, and Mike coughed awkwardly. "I guess I'll, uh, see you later or something," he said, and left.

El watched him go, and gathered up her own things.

* * *

"Hey, Ellie," Max sat, tossing herself down into a chair. 

"How was history?" El asked her. Max tossed her head. "I skipped it and went out for a smoke."

El nodded, stirring around her food.

"You'll never guess who I found outside," Max continued.

"Who?"

"Lucas and Will."

El turned to look at her. "They skipped class?"

"I know, shocking, right? I figured dweebs like them never missed a class. But I did get to have a conversation with Lucas."

The other girl just blinked at her. "That's nice, I guess."

"Oh, it is, except for the fact that now I want to fucking KILL Stacey."

El snorted.

"Okay, so I wanted to do it before, but I really want to now. She's been pushing them around to the point where Will was outside having a breakdown."

That wasn't really news to El, because she had seen it firsthand, but she shrugged. "Oh."

"I offered to beat her up for them, but they said no," Max said. "Something dorky like 'violence isn't going to work' or something."

"It's worked so far."

"See, that's what I wanted to say!"

El turned to look at the redhead, who seemed unnaturally dreamy. "You're overly happy about talking to Lucas."

Max grinned evilly. "Maybe. Who can resist the chocolate daddy, really?" El snorted at the nickname that Max had secretly given him.

"What if he hates that name?" Max shrugged.

"Then I'd stop calling him that."

"Would you really?"

"Okay, probably no. Just to annoy him."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit shorter than I would have wanted, but I still have to update my Mileven Week story, so I'm off to go work on that, I guess. Don't forget to comment and all that!


	3. How It's Written Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Will gets a note from someone, but he has no idea who it is and why he's getting them. Dustin and Emma have a nice moment in PE, and Mike and El are still skirting around each other.
> 
> PS: let me know if you think I should ditch "i like that you're lonely" and just to all the Dustin/OC stuff in here

When Will opened his locker door before lunch, the first thing he got was a shower of notes.

_i hope you die you fucking faggot_

_ZOMBIE BOY RUN HE'LL EAT YOUR BRAIN_

_How does Wheeler's dick taste?_

His shoulders visibly slumped as he picked them up from the ground, crumpling them and tossing them in a garbage can.

Why wouldn't anyone leave him alone?

He turned back, moodily stuffing his books inside, when one final note fell out, fluttering to the ground below. Picking it up, he glanced at it, and then froze.

_i'm sorry, will_

That was it. The whole note. There was no signature or anything. It looked like someone had written their initials on it, but they had scratched it out and now he only could make out the second letter, an H.

Strange. He looked at it again before pocketing it and walking off.

* * *

"Guys?" Will asked them as he approached.

"Son of a bitch!" Dustin yelped at he opened his soda, the drink spilling out across the table.

"Jesus, Dustin," Mike hissed, yanking a few D&D pages away. "Can you try to make it one lunch period without fucking spilling?"

"How was I supposed to know it would spill?"

"Maybe if you didn't toss your lunchbox up and down on the way to the table--"

"Guys!" Will said loudly. The others jumped.

"Oh, hi Will," Mike said casually. "What's up?"

"I just got this note," Will said, pushing it towards them. "Here."

"'I'm sorry, Will,'" Dustin read aloud. "That's weird."

"Who gave it to you?" Lucas asked. Will shrugged, "that's the thing. Can any of you help me out?"

"Okay, well, we know that who ever it is, their last name starts with H," Mike said.

"That doesn't really narrow it down, Mike," Dustin scoffed, adjusting his hat.

"Troy Harrington, Benjamin Harper, Jennifer Hayes, Hailey Hoover...yeah, no one I can think of who'd want to apologize to you," Lucas said, then added :Uh, no offense."

"What about Jane Hopper?" Dustin suggested.

"No, it can't be. She's never even talked to us before this week."

"Whoever wrote this, they sure didn't want anyone to know who they are," Mike said. "Look, they tried to hide their first initial so much they ripped the paper."

"Shit," Dustin said helpfully. Then, suddenly, a hand popped out of nowhere and plucked the hat from his head.

"Hello," Emma said with a grin, dodging him as he went to grab it back. "Emma!" Dustin protested. "Son of a bitch!" The girl only laughed at him, cramming it sideways over his curls and plopping down next to him.

Grumbling, Dustin turned it the right way and sat back down. "Every time," he said. She just grinned at him, flicking a bit of her food at him.

"You two know each other?" Mike asked, jabbing his fork at Emma with rather unnecessary force.

Emma and Dustin exchanged looks and turned away quickly, grinning. "We're friends," Emma only said. "From history."

"And also games club."

"And PE."

"When we bother to go."

"We usually don't."

The two seemed to bounce off of each other incessantly, way too comfortable with the other.

"If we can _focus,_ " Lucas hissed, "we sort of have to find out who gave Will this note."

"Let me see," Emma offered, and Will blinked at her, but before he could say anything she snatched up the note.

"The handwriting looks kind of familiar," she said. "And annoyingly neat. Who makes lines this straight?"

"Okay, so their last name starts with an H and their handwriting is neat," Mike said. "It's a start."

"Not really," Lucas said.

"We can cross Troy off the list. His handwriting is shit."

"He can write?"

But at the end of lunch, nobody had figured anything out.

* * *

"I saw Emma Enos with the dork squad earlier," Max said as they walked to their next class.

"Okay," was all El replied. "Cool."

"Why do you think she was over there?"

El snorted in disdain. Wasn't it obvious? "Dustin."

Max rolled her eyes. "No way."

"Have you _seen_ the way she looks at him? It's like she's taking his shirt off with her eyes."

Max shuddered. "Eugh."

"The way she looks at him, or Dustin without a shirt?"

"Both."

"Do you think he likes her back?"

"Oh yeah," Max said sagely, as if she knew all about signs of attraction. "Both of them are in PE, and he's always blushing. It's so gross."

"I can't think of a weirder couple."

Max snorted rather loudly, and El turned to her with her eyebrow raised. "Something you want to say, Maxine?"

"Nope," Max said, a framed painting of innocence with a large label. "Nothing."

El rolled her eyes.

* * *

"I do not like El!" Mike insisted for the sixteenth time.

"All I'm saying is, you're super weird around her--"

"Yeah, Dustin, that's called _fearing for my life--"_

"You're always all red and stammery--"

"Because I keep imagining her dragging me away behind the school and stabbing me with a screwdriver--"

"She only did that to Troy Harrington."

"Okay, so? She still _stabbed_ someone."

"Only in the arm--"

"Not helping, Lucas."

"Ask her out."

"I'm not asking her out because _I don't like her."_

"Whatever you say, Mike."

"Eat a dick, Byers."

* * *

Dustin decided to go to PE that day, and regretted it the minute he walked in and a tennis ball hit him in the face.

Nursing the side of his head, he lined up with the other students. Emma waved at him from the other side of the line, and he nervously waved back.

Whenever he looked at her, his stomach flipped, which he really couldn't help. She just looked... _pretty._ Way too pretty for his own good. And, happily, she didn't totally hate him! Emma probably didn't like him romantically (as if) but at least it was nice to know she tolerated him.

PE was starting to look particularly grim as Coach Mellor gestured at their activity while shouting about it at the top of his lungs.

Their mission, should they choose to accept it: lift the heavy weights and carry them to the other side of the room, then run them back and give them to someone else.

Yikes.

Dustin watched as one after another, each student took weights and carried them there and back, and then it was his turn.

He was doing okay, actually, the first time on the way there.

On the way back, he tripped on his own shoelace and fell on his face.

The coach just rolled his eyes as Dustin stood up with his nose bleeding, but the others laughed and didn't stop.

Dustin wished he could crawl in a hole, but when Emma cracked a smirk he wanted to cover up the hole and die slowly by suffocation.

He left the locker room in a considerably bad mood, a band-aid over his nose, and went to sit on the bleachers to watch the others.

"Hi," a voice said, and he looked up as Emma slid into the seat next to him.

Dustin only grunted, putting his hat back on his head.

She moved over a little in his direction so that their knees and shoulders were touching, smirking when he looked up at her. "Sorry I laughed at you," she said. Her voice was quiet now that they were so close, her mouth very close to his ear.

"It's fine," Dustin said. "Everybody does. I know I suck at sports."

"You weren't that bad," Emma said, and Dustin just gave her an _are-you-kidding-me_ look until she grinned. "Okay, you were terrible, but still."

Dustin just grinned and shook his head. "I should have skipped."

"We both should have," she said, tucking a strand of purple hair behind her ear, and then, to his mild apprehension (and more than a little pleasant surprise) she put her hand on his leg.

"Where would we have even gone this time?"

"Somewhere quiet," Emma hummed, smiling softly. "Somewhere we can actually have a full conversation."

"What, aren't we now?"

She laughed softly then, and he felt goosebumps on his arms. What did he have to do to get her to do that again?

"You know what I mean."

"Houston," his brain said, "we are aligning ourselves...waiting...Houston, we have successfully made retinal contact."

They had. Dustin had looked up at her and she smiled, tilting her head and tucking her hair back again. "Hi," she said quietly.

"Hi," he said, unable to stop the silly, stupid smile that spread across his face.

They sat that way for a while, just watching each other, when someone clapped loudly and the two jumped apart.

"Are you done?" the coach asked. "Get outta here, I gotta clean up."

They left the gym, Dustin feeling considerably better about himself. "See you, Henderson," Emma said, and bushed her fingers against his arm before leaving for her own class.

Dustin stood there for a moment before the ringing of the bell slapped him in the face, screaming, and he jogged away.

* * *

The others couldn't make it, so Mike went to the arcade alone. 

It was dark already when he left (having spent an hour trying and finally succeeding to beat Dustin's high score) and he pedaled away, his breath misting lightly in the air. Being out this late on his own always freaked him out, especially after he and Will had gotten lost in the forest once when they were ten. They had wandered around in the dark for hours, flashlights rapidly dimming. Mike had swore on his honor that something had been following them, and both of them were sure they had seen some sort of man with a mask. Mike now decided that it had been nerves, but night time, especially in mildly foggy conditions like these, still gave him the creeps. 

Someone stepped out in front of him.

Mike swore and his bike tipped forward and he crashed to the ground. He stood, ready to run, when whoever it was stepped out into the light.

It was El, who currently was smirking at his ungraceful detour. "Sorry, didn't see you," she said.

Mike picked himself off the ground, dusting off his shirt and picking up his bike in an attempt to be graceful. "That's okay."

"Why were you out so late?" she asked him, lighting a cigarette and placing it in her mouth. 

"Arcade," Mike said shortly. "Why were you out so late?"

El only shrugged, exhaling a puff of smoke that was enlarged by the chill mist already escaping from both of their mouths. "Felt like a walk."

Mike highly doubted this was the only reason (he kept imagining her mugging people in an alleyway) but nodded. "Cool."

"Cool," she replied. 

For no real reason they were willing to admit, both of them stood there awkwardly, just examining each other. Mike noticed that she wasn't all that bad-looking, really, up close. She had a small amount of freckles on her cheeks, and her eyes were a very curious shade of hazel. Her mouth twitched. 

"I probably should go," El said, flicking away a few ashes.

"Yeah. Right. Sorry." Mike shook his head and got back on his bike. Jesus he was awkward. "Well, see you sometime, I guess."

"Yeah. Cool. Bye then," she said, backing up.

Mike only nodded and pedaled off. When he glanced back, she had vanished. 

He fell off his bike six times the rest of the way home. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the rushed ending :( Don't forget to review and tell me if you want me to continue or if you'd rather I go jump off a bridge :D


	4. How It Gets Confusing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Max and El have a sleepover while Lucas and Mike try to study and end up talking instead. Meanwhile, Will is wandering around town out of boredom when he runs into the three school harpies--but one of them is acting a little strangely.

"El, I swear to god!"

The mentioned girl giggled and danced out of reach, holding the box of pizza over her head. At school, they were Jane Hopper and Maxine Mayfield, trouble kids and to be avoided at all costs, but right now they were just El and Max, two girls at a sleepover being weird.

"I called dibs on the last piece!" Max whined, as El snatched it and dropped the box.

"Too bad," El said, biting off a piece with a bit too much relish.

"You bitch," Max groaned, slumping. Then, she jumped up and tackled the other girl to the ground, effectively stealing the slice back and cramming it in her mouth.

"No fair," El grumbled.

"Too slow," Max said (although with her mouth full it came out more as "'oo shlo")

El scowled at her. "I hate you."

"You do not," Max said, grinning annoyingly.

"Sometimes I wonder."

She just laughed, flopping down on a beanbag and swallowing. "Want to try prank calling old people?" she offered.

El shook her head ruefully. "Last time we did that, Gillespie called my dad and complained."

Max stuck her tongue out. "Gillespie has a stick up her ass."

"Well, an owl did attack her head."

There was a knock on the door, and her dad peeked in the room. "You guys want anything?"

"More pizza, because Max stole the last slice."

"Uh, actually, I stole it _back--"_

Hopper rolled his eyes. "Anything that won't involve arguing."

"We're fine, Dad," El said.

"All right. Don't be up too late, you two," he said, and shut the door.

Jim Hopper was the resident Chief of Police, having taken El in a few years ago when her mother had been institutionalized. He didn't quite know what he was doing, but El loved him all the same. Despite his lack of experience, he was a good father to her and tolerated Max.

Max sighed, leaning back. "Want to watch a horror movie?" she offered.

El made a face. "Eugh, do we have to?"

"Come on, Friday the 13 is a work of art!"

"No, it's disgusting."

"You're just chicken."

El stuck her tongue out. "I'm not the one who's afraid to ask Lucas to a stupid dance."

Max blushed, but glared. "For your information, I'm not scared. I just don't know if he'd want to go with me, is all."

"Why wouldn't he?"

The redhead gestured at herself. "I scare him, you know? I can tell. It is kind of cute, though. Besides--" here she grinned wickedly "--at least I'm not afraid to talk to Wheeler."

"Am not!" El said, her blushing red cheeks telling a very different tale.

"Oh? Then what's with trying to avoid him in school?"

"Because!" El said.

"Because...?"

"He and his friends are kind of...annoying is all."

Max scoffed. "Mind if I tell him you said that?"

"Don't!"

"That's what I thought."

El huffed, crossing her arms. "Whatever. Okay, so I used to have a crush on him, but it...went away. I got over it."

"Mmmhmmm."

"Max!"

"What?"

El scowled. "I hate you."

"Love you too, El Belle."

"I told you not to call me that."

"Too bad. I just did."

El made some sort of whining noise, punching Max on the arm. Max just smiled victoriously.

* * *

"How many electrons in nitrogen?"

Lucas screwed up his face, concentrating, and said "Six? No, seven?"

Mike nodded approvingly, placing the flashcard aside. "Good. Want to wrap it up?"

"Can't, Mike. I have to make sure I know all of these."

"You'll do fine," Mike said, placing them aside and stretching out. "Trust me. Mrs Burnes loves you."

Lucas shrugged. "Sure."

They sat in silence for a while, each occupied with their own thoughts, and then Lucas said "What do you think of Max?"

"What?"

"Max. Max Mayfield. What do you think of her."

Mike only shrugged. "I don't know enough about her, honestly. Why?"

Lucas shook his head. "I don't know. She's been talking to me a lot lately."

The other boy glanced up. "Seriously?"

"Yeah. Weird, right?"

"Weird. What are your conversations about?"

"Just...anything, really. We had a whole conversation about which people we hate the most in school."

Mike nodded. "Could be worse, I guess."

"Turns out she's really easy to talk to. She told me I'm one of the better people there."

Lucas's eyes flicked to Mike, who was smirking. "What?"

"She _so_ likes you," Mike said.

Unable to stop the blush, Lucas just ducked his head. "She does not."

"Well, what were her exact words?"

"She said, 'I hate basically everyone here. You better be glad you're a helluva lot cooler than the other fucktards here, Sinclair.'"

"She said you're _cool?"_

"Yeah. So?"

"If Max can tell you you're cool, I think it means she's at least comfortable around you."

"Better than nothing, I guess."

"Yeah."

"What about you and Jane?" Lucas prodded.

"What about her?"

"Do you like her?"

"No!" Mike insisted. "Jesus, Lucas. She doesn't even talk to me."

"That doesn't mean much. Sarah Wherth was really quiet and everyone found out later she had a huge crush on Caleb McGintuire. She might just be on the quiet side."

"Maybe," Mike said doubtfully, but in his head he was turning the idea over. Jane, liking him? Unlikely, but for some reason he didn't quite mind the prospect.

"Oh, also, she likes to be called El."

"How'd you learn that?"

"Max."

 _Of course you did,_ Mike thought, but he stashed the information away nonetheless.

He left a little later. He had a lot to think about.

* * *

It was dark already, but Will ignored it, sitting on a bench and drawing the library in front of him.

His breath misted in the air before him, and despite the people milling around him, he felt very, very alone.

Will liked that feeling. It was...peaceful.

"Hey, if it isn't Faggot Boy Byers!"

Well, it was nice while it lasted. Sighing, he looked up at the source of the voice.

Fan-fucking-tastic. Stacey, Meghan and, sadly, Jennifer, stood over him, examining him with hostility.

"What do you want?" Will asked, resigned.

"Want to know what you're doing here."

"Uh, drawing."

His eyes flicked back and forth between the three. They were blocking his way, with no real way for him to get out.

Then, Will's eyes landed on Jennifer. Her hand discreetly lifted in a wave.

Weird.

He couldn't think too much on it, however, because Stacey sneered "Let's see what you're drawing" and snatched up his sketchbook before he could take it.

"Aw, how sweet," the blonde sneered, flipping through it. "Look, he drew all his boyfriends!"

It was a picture he'd drawn of the party, all together.

"Give that back," he said, getting up and reaching for it, but she danced out of his reach. "Who's to say I shouldn't just throw this away?"

"Don't!" Will said desperately. It was all his work--

"Aw, little Byers doesn't want to lose his jerk-off material," Meghan said.

"Who's gonna make me give it back? You?"

Will just looked down at his shoes.

"Stace, c'mon, give it back," another voice said.

He looked up in surprise, his emotions reflected on the faces of Meghan and Stacey.

"What?"

"Come on, give it back. What if he goes and tells the art teacher you took it?"

Will stared at her.

"Fine," Stacey said, pushing the book back in Will's hands. "Keep it, fag boy."

The other two distracted, Jennifer flashed Will a quick, small smile, almost as if to say _I'm on your side._

Then, it vanished as quickly as it had been there. Will thought he must have imagined it.

The trio left, spitting insults at him, except for the last girl who simply quirked up a corner of her mouth and jogged after the others.

Will sat back down.

What the hell had that been?

What the hell was even going on?

Will got on his bike and pedaled back, dazed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok to be honest I have no idea how girl sleepovers work (having a bunch of friends in your basement doesn't count if there are boys and if you're a boy).  
> Reviews are love.


	5. How It's Kept Secret (More Or Less)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Max and Lucas rather obviously like each other. Dustin and Emma can't keep their hands off each other. Will likes Jennifer but he's really confused. And Mike just might like El.  
> Or basically what I always do: each couple has their own random moment.

"Hey, Sinclair," Max chirped, pinching his arm. Lucas jumped about a foot in the air, dropping his stack of books. "Jesus Christ, Max--"

She only laughed, plopping herself down in a chair in front of him. "What'cha doing?"

"Well, I was _going_ to try and study--"

"Don't," Max said, reaching over and slamming his textbook shut.

Lucas looked scandalized. "Max!"

"Sit and talk to me instead," she said, propping herself up on her elbows.

"I can't, I have another test tomorrow."

"Well then, study tonight. C'mon, Lucas, I'm borrreeeddd."

"Fine," Lucas said, sitting down. "What do you want to talk about?"

"Mike and El," Max said, grinning devilishly.

"Figures," Lucas muttered, pushing his books aside nonetheless. "What about them?"

"You know what."

"I do," Lucas sighed, leaning back. "I know Mike certainly likes her."

"El sure does."

Lucas just raised an eyebrow (which Max secretly thought was sort of cute) and just said "She barely even looks at him."

"Maybe not when you're paying attention," Max said. "You should see her blush when I bring him up."

The idea of the second most notorious girl in the school (Stacey came first, obviously) blushing made Lucas want to laugh, but Max's eyes were serious.

"You really think Ja--El likes Mike?"

"Oh, I know so."

"Okay. And?"

"I'm thinking we see for definite if Mike really likes El."

"How's that?"

Max grinned evilly. "We could just leave them alone somewhere."

"Like a movie!"

"Precisely."

Lucas grinned a little shyly. "You plan well, Mayfield."

"Thanks for going along with it, Sinclair."

Now they just had to put their plan in action.

* * *

"Hey, Dustin," Emma said, sitting down next to him in a quiet corner of the library.

"Hi," Dustin said, grinning like a dork.

"What's going on with you?" she asked, looking over at the book he was reading. "A biography on Einstein, I see?"

Dustin blushed, putting it aside. "I'd get it out, but the librarian won't let me."

Emma just raised her eyebrow at him, and he blinked before the innuendo set it. "I mean--"

She just laughed, tilting her head back. "Sorry, sorry. You're way too easy to fuck with."

"Now who's the one with the innuendos?"

"God," Emma said, rolling her eyes, and smirked at him. "I wouldn't mind, though."

His face turned about as red as the brim of his cap. The girl beside him laughed, grinning wickedly at him.

"N-noted," Dustin mumbled, looking at his shoes.

Emma's grin just grew wider, and she leaned rather deliberately over him. "Biography any good?" she asked.

Her hand was on his thigh, her own leg on top of his own, and she was almost leaning on his chest, her hair tickling his neck.

"Uhm--" Dustin was having a difficult time remembering how talking worked. "Y-yeah, pretty good. So far."

"Cool," she said, turning her face.

Their mouths were so close that he could feel her body heat.

"Hi," she said.

"Uh...hi--"

Emma grinned and sat back, still very close against him. "Want to hang out?"

"What, we aren't now?"

The girl laid her head on his shoulder, gently teasing his arm by running her fingers along it. "Maybe," she said.

Hesitantly, Dustin turned his hand over, and Emma smirked and took it, wrapping her fingers between his.

"This is nice," she said quietly.

"Nice," Dustin mumbled back.

They sat like that for a good hour, talking quietly to each other. Well, until the librarian came over and thought they were doing something else entirely. 

* * *

Will had found that the best way to avoid people was to simply walk with your head down and your eyes fixed in front of you. If you walked quickly, most people would just ignore you. 

Today, that didn't work.

"Hey! Byers!"

Will sighed and decided to keep walking. 

"Hey, I'm talking to you."

Well, that didn't work. Fuck. He turned around slowly, minority irritated, as Jennifer came striding up to him. 

"What?" he asked her flatly, glaring at her shoes. 

"I need you to get my locker open," she said. Will looked up and blinked. "What?"

Rolling her eyes, she gestured behind her impatiently. "My locker? It's stuck? And you're a total nerd so you probably know how to work the lock?"

He had been expecting something like "kneel down and kiss my boot" or something, honestly. 

"Okay," Will said hesitantly. 

"Great," the girl said, and strode off, indicating that he was to follow her.

Her locker sat innocently shut. Suspecting a trap, he kicked the door to see if anything rattled inside.

"What are you doing?" Jennifer demanded.

"Uh, nothing. Nothing. Um, okay. What's your combination?"

She gave it to him, and he put the numbers in, muttering under his breath. Pulling a screwdriver out of his pocket (a gift from Jonathan that had come in handy) he jabbed at the lock a few times. 

Suddenly, the locker clicked. 

"How did you do that?" Jennifer asked him.

Will said nothing except "Let me know if it gets stuck again."

He made to leave, but she said "Will!" and he turned.

The blonde girl stumbled on the cliff before saying "Um...look...thanks."

"Oh. Uh, you're welcome."

She nodded and he walked away. 

Seriously, what the hell was even going on anymore? He probably should ask the guys about it. 

* * *

Mike slammed his locker shut and scowled at it. 

"Close it a little harder, why don't you?" a voice said dryly. Mike rolled his eyes and turned to see who it was.

El. At his locker. Standing in front of him.

He wondered dimly if she had a knife somewhere. 

"Oh. Um, hi, El?" It came out as a question and he cringed. 

"Hi," El said, smirking. "El, huh?"

Shit, he had called her that out loud. "Yeah, um, Max told Lucas you preferred it to Jane, and Lucas told all of us, so..."

"Cool," she only said, watching as he hoisted his backpack over his arm. "Bad day?"

"Clocker's an idiot," Mike told her, setting off with her down the hallway (at a safe distance). "Two pop quizzes in one class."

"Ouch," said the Queen of One Word Sentences. 

"Yeah, seriously," he muttered. 

"Sorry about that," El offered, and Mike just shrugged. "I passed them all right, I guess."

"How much of it did you know?"

"Like...eighty percent maybe?" Noticing the look on her face, he said "What? I study the material anyway in case pop quizzes ever happen, so it's not super impressive."

"Wow, I thought you were a nerd, but now..."

Mike barked a laugh.

"Hey, Max said we should go to see a movie on Saturday," El said.

"Us?"

"All of us. You, Max, me, all of your other weird friends."

"Oh. Um, okay. Sure. Sounds good I guess."

"See you there?" Was it him, or did she seem almost hopeful?

"Y-yeah. See you."

El grinned at him quickly before jogging away to where her father had arrived in his truck.

Mike watched her go.

He did  _not_ like El. At all. Totally. They were just...acquaintances. Yeah, acquaintances.

Okay, fine. Maybe he did have a very, tiny, inconsequential crush on her. So what? It's not like it would amount to anything, right? Sooner or later it would fade and he'd forget all about her. (yeah right, dream on wheeler)

As for El? El right now is sitting in her father's truck, talking to him about school that day. If she lands on the subject of Mike, we are none the wiser. We'll leave her inscrutable for now. As always. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry this is a short chapter!  
> Next chapter I plan on being entirely Mileven. FINALLY.


End file.
